Spiraling Read Online Free PDF Page B

our street I left her at the end of her driveway and walked down three houses to Kennedy’s. The door was open when I got there. I could see Kennedy watching television through the glass screen door. I knocked and she glanced over, waving me inside.
    “Hi, Tori,” she said.
    “Hey,” I replied.
    “Anything happen at school today?”
    I plopped down on the couch beside her. “There’s a new guy.”
    “Okay,” she replied, disinterested.
    “He is gorgeous , Kenn. He has the prettiest blue eyes and—”
    “You have a boyfriend.”
    “I know.”
    “The way you’re going on about this new guy it sounds like you like him or something. Don’t forget, you already have a super-hot and totally popular boyfriend. Unlike some of us.”
    “I know,” I repeated. “But you should see the new guy. He makes Chad look like Quasimodo.”
    She scrunched her forehead and looked at me. “Who?”
    “From The Hunchback of Notre Dame .”
    She rolled her eyes. “Nobody’s that cute.”
    “Devon is.”
    She frowned. “Don’t do this, Tori.”
    “Do what?” I asked.
    “This. This thing you always do. You get what you want and then you see something you think is better and you want that.”
    “No, I don’t.” I shook my head.
    “Yes, you do. You were fine with Chad until this new guy shows up and then suddenly Chad isn’t good enough. Just because something’s new doesn’t make it better. Look at CDs. You didn’t have to worry about cassettes skipping or getting scratched every time you hit a bump in the car. You should be happy you have a boyfriend at all. Some of us don’t.”
    “Whatever.” I sighed. “I’m just going to go. Mrs. White assigned like twenty pages of problems and it’s going to take me all night to do them. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
    “Sure.”
    Listening to another one of her pity parties was not on my list of things to do. It bothered me that no matter what I said, Kennedy always found a way to make everything about her. Just once, I wanted her to listen to what I had to say.
    As I walked down the block to my house, I was surprised to see my stepfather’s car in the driveway. I was usually the only one home until after four. Pausing on the porch, I took a deep breath before I opened the door. I could hear the twins screaming on the other side and I wasn’t prepared to deal with their brand of chaos. I just wanted to be by myself and get started on what would be a long night of homework. In addition to algebra, I had a ton of other stuff I had to do and I was behind in biology. With the twins already home, however, there was little hope that I would get caught up on anything. They had destroyed the front room and were working on moving all of the toys from their bedroom into the hall.
    “Hey, Sweetie.” Mom called from the kitchen as soon as I closed the front door.
    I set my bag down on the stairs and walked toward the kitchen, navigating the obstacle course the twins had created in the front room. Mom stood next to the counter, peeling potatoes and letting the brown peels fall into the open trash can. It was strange to see her out of her office during the week, so I looked around to see if we had unexpected company. The only other person in the room was my stepfather, who appeared to be in an uncharacteristic good mood.
    “How was your day?” Mom asked.
    “Fine,” I answered. “What’s going on?”
    “I’m making dinner. It’ll be a little while if you want to get started on your homework. After we eat, we’re going to have a family meeting. Could you go upstairs and make sure your brother’s still home?”
    “Sure.” I shrugged.
    I walked out of the kitchen, completely baffled. My mom hadn’t cooked dinner since the semester began. On top of that, it was Monday and she wasn’t making spaghetti. I picked up my bag at the bottom of the stairs and went up to my brother’s door. Music played inside, but I knocked to make sure he was there. He had a habit of